On Singing
Watching today's American Idol episode reminded me of how much I wanted to be a singer when I was younger.
It didn't take me long to realize that I (my body) wasn't made for dancing, that my artistic skills are actually bordering on mediocrity, the next person can act as well as I do, and basically, the only thing that distinguished me from everyone else was that makapal ang mukha ko.
After that string of realizations, I realized that maybe singing is the thing for me. Its something that I enjoy doing, and its something that people complimented me for. Though I knew that I wasn't that great of a singer, I KNEW how to sing. Then I started singing in school for real. I may not have been part of any choir, I was always the one assigned to sing during Flag Ceremonies and stuff. Songfests were my thing, and singing during music classes was nothing to me.
And then college came. I have to admit that the videoke was one of my bestfriends for all those four years. Eastwood trips would not be complete without at least half an hour of videoke, and singing got me through driving early mornings and late nights from Paranaque to Katipunan. And yeah, I'd sing videoke alone here in the house when I'm bored. Hahahaha.
Its just sad that I can actually feel my voice deteriorating over the years. Too much shouting during cheering competitions in high school and during Orsems in college and cigarette smoke have made singing very, very hard for me. When I say hard, I mean that my vocal range has diminished significantly, and I can no longer do falsetto, or sing from the diaphragm. I can now only sing with my speaking voice, which leaves my voice hoarse the next day each time I'd go to the videoke.
I regret not taking care of my voice, seriously. I hate that doing something I love needs a lot of effort doing. I hate the thought of my not being able to sing anymore.
It didn't take me long to realize that I (my body) wasn't made for dancing, that my artistic skills are actually bordering on mediocrity, the next person can act as well as I do, and basically, the only thing that distinguished me from everyone else was that makapal ang mukha ko.
After that string of realizations, I realized that maybe singing is the thing for me. Its something that I enjoy doing, and its something that people complimented me for. Though I knew that I wasn't that great of a singer, I KNEW how to sing. Then I started singing in school for real. I may not have been part of any choir, I was always the one assigned to sing during Flag Ceremonies and stuff. Songfests were my thing, and singing during music classes was nothing to me.
And then college came. I have to admit that the videoke was one of my bestfriends for all those four years. Eastwood trips would not be complete without at least half an hour of videoke, and singing got me through driving early mornings and late nights from Paranaque to Katipunan. And yeah, I'd sing videoke alone here in the house when I'm bored. Hahahaha.
Its just sad that I can actually feel my voice deteriorating over the years. Too much shouting during cheering competitions in high school and during Orsems in college and cigarette smoke have made singing very, very hard for me. When I say hard, I mean that my vocal range has diminished significantly, and I can no longer do falsetto, or sing from the diaphragm. I can now only sing with my speaking voice, which leaves my voice hoarse the next day each time I'd go to the videoke.
I regret not taking care of my voice, seriously. I hate that doing something I love needs a lot of effort doing. I hate the thought of my not being able to sing anymore.
posted by Leigh Villegas at
6:29 PM
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